Opposition parties in Gabon elections converge around one candidate

Opposition parties in Gabon elections converge around one candidate

Five Gabonese opposition parties have nominated Pierre Mamboundou to run for president in this month’s elections to succeed the late Omar Bongo Ondimba.

The opposition’s choice

Mamboundou, leader of the Union of Gabonese People, came second to Bongo in elections in 2005. Bongo’s son, Defense Minister Ali Bongo Ondimba, is running as the candidate of the ruling Gabonese Democratic Party.

“You have asked for a single candidate for the opposition…I offer you hope, I offer you a new way for Gabon.”

says Louis-Gaston Mayila, leader of the Union for the New Republic, one of the five parties backing Mamboundou.

Mamboundou has pledged to fight corruption and waste in government and to promote officials based on their expertise rather than their ethnicity. His nomination by the coalition marked the first time that opposition parties have rallied behind one candidate.

Other candidates planning to run for president in the polls scheduled for Aug. 30 include Oil Minister Casimir Oyé Mba, former Prime Minister Jean Eyeghe Ndong, who resigned on July 17 to become an independent candidate, and the ex-interior minister, Andre Mba Obame.